Charmed Again (Halloween LaVeau) (17 page)

“It’s a pleasure.” Annabelle batted her eyelashes.

Jon’s eyes sparkled as he placed his lips on Annabelle’s hand. Her face turned a deep shade of red. Liam and I might as well have been invisible.

“So you called for backup?” I asked Liam.

“Don’t you think I need it? I can’t handle both of you, not to mention all the ghosts you keep bringing back to life,” Liam said.

Jon finally looked away from Annabelle and quirked his brow at me. Yeah, he’d heard Liam correctly. The new leader was a screw-up. Deal with it, people.

“I figured Jon can escort Annabelle to her house since I know she doesn’t want to stay in your creepy manor, as she calls it.” Liam winked at Annabelle.

“Yeah, I guess that’s a good idea.” I looked Jon up and down. “But you’d better take care of my best friend. Got it?” I poked him in his hard chest with my index finger.

“Yes, ma’am. You have my word on it,” Jon said
with a little salute.

“I’ll just get my bag,” Annabelle said as she ran across the room.

It looked as if there would be little chance of me convincing her to stay. Oh well, it was better if she wasn’t around this craziness anyway.

I hugged Annabelle. “I’ll call you later.”

Annabelle and Jon were chatting as they walked down the front steps and to his car. He opened the door and she climbed in, giggling the whole time. He must have told a very funny joke because Annabelle rarely giggled. Annabelle flipped her hand up in a little wave, then focused her attention back to the conversation with Jon.

“Well, it looks like they’re going to get along just fine,” Liam said.

“It appears that way.” I turned to Liam. “Why didn’t you tell me that you’d called for backup?”

Liam folded his arms in front of his chest. “You were too busy bringing ghosts back and didn’t give me a chance.”

“When are you going to let me live that down?” I asked.

“Probably not for a while.” Dimples appeare
d on his cheeks.

It was strange being alone with Liam. Well, besides the former ghost that was upstairs and the other one who was missing. My thoughts shifted to Nicolas. Where was he? Most importantly, was he okay? Liam must have read my thoughts.

He stepped closer and placed his hands on my arms. “We’ll get all of this worked out. Try not to worry about it, okay?”

I nodded. “It’s hard not to think about it.”

Liam rubbed my arms, sending a chill down my body. He leaned in closer and placed his warm lips against mine. A warm tingly sensation zipped through my body. I didn’t resist his kiss. It was hard not to succumb to his chemistry. The room began to spin as his tongue moved across mine. I pressed my body closer to his.

Finally, my thoughts broke through the fog and I pushed him away. “I should check on my guest,” I said without looking at Liam.

I dashed up the stairs and didn’t look back. When I got to the top of the stairs, I paused to catch my breath and listen. Would Liam come after me? On one hand, I wanted him to, and onthe other, I didn’t want him to. I couldn’t possibly be any more confused
.
Would Nicolas be angry that I’d kissed Liam? Given their rocky past, I knew the answer to that question. What would be the consequences for Liam and Nicolas’ shaky relationship if I was in the middle? There was enough animosity between them without me adding to it.

Without checking on my guest, I retreated to my room. Now more than ever I needed time to be alone and think. Once inside my room, I locked the door out of habit, and pulled out the Book of Mystics. I would read that thing cover to cover if it would just give me the answers I was looking for and the answers I needed.

The next thing I knew, I’d fallen asleep, leaning back against the headboard with the Book of Mystics across my chest. Luckily, the book didn’t have my drool on the pages. I really needed to get more rest so that I wouldn’t fall asleep while sitting up so often.

After searching through the book, I still didn’t have the answers I needed. Sure, it had instructed me on how the covens and vampire clans worked, but it hadn’t told me what to do with a problem like the one I was dealing with now.

I needed to ask another witch’s advice. The only catch was I didn’t really have any witch friends. Since I’d always been the outcast of the coven, most witches avoided me like a burning stake or a broken broom. But there was one witch who would be more than willing to lend me a wand… my mother. She would want to know more about Nicolas and Liam though and that was the problem. If I told her what was going on with them she might freak out. Unfortunately, she was my only option. There was still a little daylight left in the day. Just enough time to catch my mother at her shop before she closed and went home for the day.

I picked up my cell and dialed the number to Bewitching Bath and Potions. “I thought I’d come over for a bit,” I said when she answered.

“What’s wrong?” she asked with panic in her voice.

“Can’t I come see my mother?” I asked in defense.

“Well, you rarely volunteer to come by the store,” she replied with frustration in her tone.

I scoffed.
“That’s because you always put me to work.”

“Just get here as quickly as you can,” she said around a sigh.

Little did my mother know that I wouldn’t show up to her shop as myself.

Grabbing the Book of Mystics, I headed
downstairs to perform the glamor spell. There was one small problem though. If Liam was down there, I’d have to trick him into leaving me alone for a bit, just enough time for me to cast the spell and slip out of the house.

I had to change my appearance in order to go out of the house without protection. After all, Jacobson and his crazy coven members would be looking for me, not som
eone else. But who would I change my appearance to? I’d changed my appearance to Nicolas already and that had almost been a catastrophe.

Luckily, this time I had th
e counter-spell so I wouldn’t have to worry about being stuck taking on someone else’s appearance. Well, in a perfect witch world that was the way it worked. In my world, there was always some doubt. There was only one person who I felt I would be safe as… Liam Rankin. After all, he was my bodyguard and no one would mess with him. But what if they saw me out and thought that he’d left me home alone? They’d come to LaVeau Manor. It wouldn’t matter though. I wouldn’t be here.

I tiptoed through the rooms, hoping that I wouldn’t hit one of the creaky floorboards and notify the whole house that I was moving around. Where was Liam? I should have checked his room before I’d come down, but I didn’t want to accidentally bump into him while in such close proximity to his bedroom.

The house was silent again except for the eerie tick-tock of that grandfather clock. I needed to get rid of that thing. The sound was just too creepy. It was as if I was perpetually running out of time. Maybe someone was trying to tell me something.

Fortunately, I’d made it through the house without seeing Liam. Once I reached the kitchen, I hurried and g
athered my items—cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and bay leaves. Aunt Maddy’s giant cauldron was in the big stone fireplace in the middle of the far wall of the kitchen. I wasn’t sure when I’d stop referring to everything as Aunt Maddy’s. It was all my stuff now… for better or worse.

After adding water to the cauldron, I swiped a long match against the stone then lit the fire underneath. I dumped the ingredients into the cauldron and waited for the water to boil. Of course we all knew that a watched pot never boiled, so while I waited, I paced.

What would Liam say or do if he found out what I was doing? He’d laughed when I’d changed my appearance to Nicolas, but I knew he wouldn’t find this quite as humorous. I was slipping out of the house without him as my protection. If I was killed, it would ruin him. That was kind of selfish of me now that I thought about it. I didn’t want to ruin him—far from it. But it was just a risk I was going to have to take. I prayed that everything worked out the way that I intended.

Once the water came to a boil, I recited the words. This time I didn’t want to make any mistakes. It was too important.

“For a brief time, make my appearance not mine. Alter my look to that of Liam Rankin and no one’s beliefs will falter. So mote it be.”

The water bubbled like the angry sea and flashes of light zinged and zapped around the room. Within a matter of seconds, the commotion had died down again and it was just as peaceful and quiet as when I’d started the spell.

Apprehension coursed through my body. Had the spell worked? Of course I was nervous about making the counter-spell work too. Obviously, not nervous enough though because I’d gone through with the glamor spell. I was having spell casting remorse. It was too late to turn back now, right? Or was it? I needed to check the mirror to see if I was still me or if I’d taken on the handsome features of one sexy vampire warlock, Liam Rankin.

I rushed down the hallway into the little bathroom. The reflection in the mirror star
ing back at me was not my own. I now had a strong jaw, piercing blue eyes, long lashes, full lips and dark hair. Damn. Liam was good-looking. The spell had been a success. Now what? I’d have to hurry out of the house before I was caught.

I grabbed my purse and headed toward the door. Okay, how ridiculous did I look? A guy carrying a giant pink purse? But what was a female witch who’d changed her appearance to do? I needed my purse. It was practically my lifeline. I’d leave it in the car and no one would be the wiser. What would my mother say when she saw me like this? I felt like I was slipping out of the house like when I was sixteen. My mother had always used her magic to catch me though. I prayed that Liam didn’t use his magic to catch me.

The ride to my mother’s shop was exceedingly long. Perhaps it was because I was anxious and had a million things on my mind. Specialty shops and boutiques made up the bulk of the historic section of town. The main road ran along the river, twisting and turning through Enchantment Pointe. A stone wall surrounded the outer edge of town with cobblestone sidewalks and wrought-iron accents sprinkled around.

After pull
ing up in front of the building which housed my mother’s Bath and Potions Shop in the historic downtown of Enchantment Pointe, I cut the engine and let out a deep breath. I’d started working at my mother’s shop years ago, but she still didn’t trust me to mix the spells. The full beard on Mrs. Stillwell’s face had only lasted a month and it had been a novelty really. In hindsight, she should have thanked me. But because of that and a few other mishaps, I was banned from the cauldron.

Here went nothing. At the very least my mother would be thrilled with my witchcraft skills. Not every witch could change her appearance.

I hopped out from behind the wheel and around to the sidewalk. I looked up and down the street. A few people went in and out of other shops, but no one seemed to notice me. No one knew Liam in Enchantment Pointe though, so I’d probably be safe. Just a regular guy standing on the sidewalk, that was me.

As I pushed through the door of Bewitching Bath and Potions Shop, the bell above the door jangled announcing my presence.
Annette LaVeau made all the items right there in her shop. Her merchandise included soaps, lotions, scrubs, and bath salts. She had a special knack for mixing scents—magical oils were her specialty. She was a workaholic when it came to her business: sections of the store were specifically designated for specific items, and you’d better not get them out of place either. Fragrances, oils, powders and herbs on the right. Soaps, shower gels, lotions, shampoos and conditioners on the left.

My mother immediately popped up from behind the counter.
People could tell immediately that we were mother and daughter. We were the same small size—five-foot-one—but we packed a powerful punch. My mother had recently cut her blonde hair in a fashionable bob. She wore the store’s signature polka-dotted apron over her black T-shirt and black and white Capri pants. 

My mother
quirked her one eyebrow. My mother had gotten better with drawing on her eyebrows after this many years, but sometimes she forgot and accidentally wiped them off. I’d been responsible for a minor cupcake-related incident involving a partially destroyed kitchen, and my mother had her eyebrows. Other than that, she’d come out unscathed. Never mind that she has to pencil them in to this day, bless her heart. She never had to worry about painful wax treatments though.

“May I help you?” she as
ked with a giant smile.

As I approached the counter, she scowled. Did she recognize me? Or did she suspect that I was behind the male face? 

“Aren’t you that witch who corrupted my daughter?” She waved the wand that she’d been using to mix up a potion.

“What?” I asked, my voice coming out only slightly masculine.

I couldn’t believe she’d asked me that. It was so tempting to have a little fun with her, but she’d probably never forgive me if I did, so I knew I had to come clean.

My mother frowned. She was a smart woman and she knew something was amiss. And to think I’d actually entertained the thought of playing a prank on her. It would have taken her seconds to figure me out.